The invention concerns an electronic wristwatch with electric terminal contacts accessible on the bottom-side of the housing.
Such a wristwatch is known from German DE-OS No. 27 24 495. In that wristwatch the terminals are accessible after the removal of the bottom of the housing, i.e., the exposure of the battery and clockwork circuits inside the housing. These terminals are connected in an electrically conducting manner with slide register inlets and counter setting inlets, respectively, in order to be able to adjust the registers of the electronic clock circuit for the purpose of setting the watch display in accordance with certain storage state. For this purpose, the wristwatch, after the inside of the housing has been exposed, is placed on an auxiliary apparatus so that the exposed contacts press against elastically supported pins and the instantaneous setting of the reference register of circuit arrangements acting as the standard clock may be transferred. The particular disadvantage of this typical wristwatch involves the fact that the exposure of the inside of the housing poses the danger of interference with the operation. Furthermore, the mere pressure of the exposed contacts on the connecting pins, because of surface impurities may not provide, under certain conditions, the necessary ohmic safety of the contact with respect to the information to be transmitted. A typical wristwatch is known from German DE-OS No. 23 59 071. This watch has a case cast around the clock circuit and the display device that cannot be opened, and wherein contacts are cast in positions offset with respect to the rear external surface of the housing. The contacts are accessible by means of metallic shorting plugs through blind holes and short-circuitable among themselves, in order to expose certain dividing stage inlets temporarily to pulses higher than the operating frequency, for the purpose of adjusting the time display of the watch. However, the safety of ohmic contacting is even worse than noted above, in view of interfering deposits on the external surfaces of the cast-in contacts.
It will be appreciated that the data processing and display potentials of advanced wristwatches may be adapted to the individual needs or interests of the wearer of the watch by means of auxiliary instruments, without the requirement of small, special manufacturing series. Thus, it is the object of this invention to provide a contacting device in watches of this type that is simple to handle and electrically secure, so that the watch may be used universally as a processing and display instrument, together with interchangeable auxiliary instruments, including charging units for recharageable batteries, without detrimentally affecting in a substantial manner the aesthetic appearance expected of such a watch when worn on the arm of a person, in cases when such peripheral devices are connected with the watch.